Berwick Vs Teslow
by Samantha J. Mulder
Summary: After suffering from a Pim-induced concussion, Debbie Berwick develops a crush on Phil, too bad he only has eyes for Keely.


A/n: Hey, y'all, Sam Mulder here. Finally, a Phil of the Future category! Happiest day of my life. Now I have some use for all my Phil fan fiction. Enjoy!

Berwick Vs. Teslow

Pim Diffy was annoyed. Well, more annoyed than usual. It was a few minutes before school was supposed to begin and she was frantically trying to read the Cliff Notes to _Romeo and Juliet _while dodging people left and right on the way to her locker. The fact that Debbie Berwick was tagging along behind her, rambling about her latest volunteer effort wasn't helping matters a bit.

Pim finally reached her locked and turned to Debbie. "Listen, Berwick," she said, "how many times do I have to tell you, I don't do charity. If it doesn't have the words 'To Benefit Pim Diffy' in the title, I don't want to hear about it."

"But it's a really good cause!"Debbie exclaimed, a little too enthusiastically.

"That's what you say about EVERYTHING!"

Pim unlocked her locker and opened it, accidentally-on-purpose hitting Debbie in the face with the door. Debbie stumbled backwards and was caught by Phil, who'd come by with Keely because he'd grabbed Pim's lunch by mistake.

When Debbie's vision focused, she looked up at Phil. Funny, she'd never noticed how cute he really was before...

"Nice catch, Phil," Keely said with a smile.

"All in a day's work," Phil said, setting Debbie upright. "You ok, there, Debbie?"

"I think so," Debbie replied, holding a hand to her head and blushing a little as she looked at him. "Thanks."

Pim slammed her locker shut and looked up from her Cliff Notes. "What do you two want?" She demanded, eyeing Keely and Phil.

"Oh, I think this is yours," Phil held out a brown paper sack, "because my lunch usually consists of more than three cans of Red Bull."

Pim pulled an identical sack out of her backpack and handed it to Phil., saying, "I thought this felt light."

"Whatever. See you later, Pim," he said and headed off down the hall, Keely in tow.

Debbie stared after Phil, a dreamy smile on her face. "Pim, did you ever notice how wonderful your brother is?"

Pim shuddered. "Uh, no! I sure hope that's the concussion talking."

The bell rang and Pim, without taking her eyes off her book, grabbed Debbie, who was still staring down the hall, by the back of the shirt collar and dragged her off in the direction of their first class.

For the rest of the morning, Debbie had trouble concentrating in classes. All she could think about was Phil and his gorgeous smile. At first, she couldn't figure it out because, unlike a certain friend of hers, she loved school, but after she caught herself doodling "Mrs. Phil Diffy" on her math notes, she knew problem was. She had a crush on Phil. Not that that was a problem, Debbie thought, in fact, it was quite the contrary.

At lunch, Debbie spotted Phil sitting with Keely on the far side of the quad. She almost went and sat with them, seeing as there was plenty of room since they were the only ones at their table and Keely was sitting right next to Phil (a little TOO close, Debbie thought) but she thought it might seem weird. Instead, she found Pim sitting alone, scribbling in a notebook, and sat down next to her.

"Hi Pimsy!" Debbie said cheerfully, unwrapping her sandwich.

"Berwick!" Pim said, irritated, throwing down her pencil. "Can't you see I'm plotting a hostile takeover of the student store?"

Debbie ignored her obvious annoyance. "Listen, Pim, can I ask you something?"

"If you must."

"Is your brother...that is to say, is Phil, well, is he...uh..."

"Spit it out, Berwick, I haven't got all day!"

"Are Phil and Keely, you know, dating?"

Pim raised her eyebrows, the question catching her off guard. She glanced across the quad. "Well, not officially, no. But they're definitely more than friends, if you know what I mean."

Not exactly the answer Debbie was looking for but she could work with it.

"Why do you ask?"

"Uh, no reason!" Debbie said quickly, blushing.

"You don't have some kind of crush on Phil, do you?"

"Wh-who me?" Debbie stammered as her face tuned an even brighter shade of red. "Of course not, Pim!"

"Mmm-hmm. You can't fool me, Berwick. For some sick, twisted reason, you have a crush on my brother."

Debbie sighed and looked at her shoes. "All right, Pim, you've got me. What gave it away?"

"Let's just say I've seen ketchup that isn't as red as your face is right now."

Debbie made a fantastic attempt to unblush as Pim stood up and grabbed her notebook. "You'd just better pray I don't use this against you." Pim laughed maniacally as she took off, leaving Debbie a little shocked.

That day after school, Debbie made it her mission to seek out Phil, thinking maybe she could walk home with him. She just hoped Keely wasn't around.

She eventually found him-with Keely by his side, much to her dismay- at his locker, putting his books away. "Hi, Phil," she greeted him.

"Oh, hey, Debbie," Phil replied, closing his locker. "If you're looking for Pim, she ran off down that way." He pointed down the hall. "Just to warn you, she's up to something."

"Yeah, when I said 'hi' to her, she just shouted 'viva la revolution' at me," Keely added.

"Actually, Phil, I was looking for you," Debbie said.

"Me?" Phil asked, taken by surprised, "What for?"

"I wanted to see if I could, uh, walk home with you."

"Oh, well, actually, Keely and I are heading over to the library to do some research for our history project."

This little hitch in the plan wasn't about to deter Debbie. "Do you guys mind if I come? I just love the library! It's so organized!"

Phil glanced at Keely who shrugged in reply. "Sure, Debbie, you can come along if you want."

At the library, Phil and Keely collected the books they needed and settled themselves at a deserted table in the back corner. Debbie sat across from them, English textbook open in front of her. At first, she managed to get some reading done, but after a few minutes, Shakespearean sonnets just couldn't hold her interest anymore. She looked up and across the table.

Phil and Keely had a thick book opened in front to them and were scanning the pages. Occasionally, Keely would scribble a note or cross something out on her legal pad. Debbie noticed that Phil had his arm across the back of Keely's chair and, once, again, she was sitting as close as she could to him.

Debbie tried to rationalize all this by telling herself that they were best friends, after all, but the more she watched them the less she believed it. No problem, she thought. She's just have to work a little harder to get Phil to notice her.

The next day, Debbie can up with what she considered to be a brilliant plan. She was going to ask Phil to Friday's dance. She figured if he spent a little time with her he might just realize what a fabulous person she was and the rest would be history.

The only problem Debbie had was getting Phil alone long enough to ask him. It seemed every time she say him, Keely was right there by his side; she started to wonder if those two were ever apart. She finally manage to corner Phil at his locker right after lunch.

Debbie took a deep breath and walked up to Phil, who was sticking his biology book in his bag.

"Hi, Phil," she said, her heart pounding.

"Hey Debbie, what's up?" Phil grinned, causing Debbie to blush.

"I, uh, I just wanted to ask you if, uh, if you'd go to the dance with me on Friday."

Phil stared at her in complete shock. The last thing he would have expected to happen was to get asked out by Debbie Berwick. She was his sister's friend (well, sort of) for crying out loud!

Finally, Phil managed to spit out, "Well, uh, Debbie, let me get back to you on that, ok?"

Debbie spotted Keely walking towards them so she just replied in a hurry, "Sure, Phil. See you later."

Keely watched Debbie run off down the hall. "What was that all about, Phil?"

When he didn't answer, she waved a hand in front of his face. "Hello! Earth to Phil Diffy!"

He turned to look at her, a look of total surprise still on his face. "Debbie Berwick just asked me to the dance."

Keely giggled. "Aw, how cute. What'd you tell her?"

"I just told her that I'd get back to her," Phil said, coming back to himself. "I mean, I couldn't say yes, obviously, since, you know, you and I are going together, but I didn't want to break her heart."

"You're so sweet, Phil." She grinned. "One of the many reasons I like you so much." Phil just smiled as the bell rang and they headed off toward their biology class.

As they rounded a corned near their classroom, Keely said, "I think you should take Debbie to the dance."

Phil's smiled faded and he was taken by surprise for the second time that day. "You can't be serious. What about us, Keely? I was really looking forward to taking you."

"Its not like I won't be there, Phil. Besides, just think about how much this would mean to Debbie. You and I will have plenty of other dances to go to."

He shook his head. "Sometimes I wonder how I let you talk me into this things, Keely."

She grinned and said, "One condition, though."

"And what's that?" Phil asked as they entered their classroom and sat down.

"You save all the slow dances for me."

It was Phil's turn to grin. "Well if you're going to force me, I guess I'll have to."

Keely swatted his arm playfully then turned her attention to the front to the room where Mr. Hackett had started writing on the board.

After school, Phil caught Debbie just as she was walking out of the school. "Hey, Debbie," he said and she turned around.

"Oh, hi Phil."

"Hey, listen, I thought about it and I'd be glad to take you to the dance." Phil recited the words Keely had told him to say. You're just lucky I love you so much, Keely Teslow, he thought as he plastered a smile on his face.

A huge smile spread across Debbie's face. "You mean it, Phil? You'll really go to the dance with me?"

"Yup, you've got yourself a date." He looked around. "By the way, where's Pim? I haven't seen her since lunch."

"Oh, in detention. Seems the principle didn't appreciate the revolution she staged in the student store yesterday, especially after she called him a 'dirty socialist'."

Phil rolled his eyes. "Why doesn't any of this surprise me?"

"I'm sure Pim had good intentions."

He laughed. "You don't know her like I do, Debbie. The only person Pim's intentions are ever good for is Pim."

Debbie was about to reply but Keely appeared at Phil's side. "Hey, Phil," she said, "Ready to go?"

"Yeah. See you later, Debbie."

Later that afternoon, Phil was sitting in his rom, feet propped up on his desk, reading, when Pim barged in.

"PHIL!" She shouted, causing him to fall over backwards.

"What?"

"Berwick told me you're taking her to the dance on Friday."

"Yeah, what's it to you?"

"Why?"

"Well she asked me and I said yes."

"Why?"

"Becuase, uh, Debbie is, well, she's a nice girl."

Pim raised her eyebrows at her brother.

"Ok, fine. Keely made me."

She rolled her eyes. "I should have known."

"What's that supposed to mean?"

She just grinned and ran out of the room.

Phil jumped up. "Pim! Hey, come back here!" He heard her door slam and went back to his desk, muttering, "Little sisters..."

For Debbie, Friday couldn't come fast enough. She speant every free moment dreaming about the dance and when Friday finally came, she was estatic. When Debbie walked into the dance on Phil's arm, she felt like she was on top of the world,.

Until Phil spotted Keely and made a beeline for her. "Hey you," she said when they reached her.

"Hey yourself,"Phil said, "You look amazing."

She smiled and blushed. "Thanks, Phil."

Debbie decided it was time to intervenve. "Phil, you want to dance?"

"Sure, Debbie." Phil winked at Keely and followed Debbie on the dance floor. They danced along to the next few songs until a slow song started. This was what Debbie had been waiting for. Too bad Phil had other ideas.

"Listen, Debbie, I sort of promised Keely I'd save a few slow dances for her. You don't mind, do you?"

Debbie forced herself to smile. "Uh, no, not at all Phil."

Debbie watched as Phil took Keely's hand and led her onto the dance floor. She watched as he took her in his arms and she rested her head on his shoulder.

"They look so happy don't they?" A voice said from Debbie's left.

"Huh?" Debbie said, a little startled. She turned to see Tia standing next to her.

"Phil and Keely. I know it sounds cliche and all, but those two really seem to belong together."

"Yeah, seems that way."

"You know, I've known Keely for quite sometime but I've never seen her as happy as she is when she's with Phil. If you ask me, they were meant to be together." Tia waved at someone across the dance. "Cute blond guy beckons. Later."

The song soon ended and Phil and Keely rejoined Debbie at the edge of the dance floor. The rest of the evening, Debbie danced with Phil as much as she could but every slow dance, he was all Keely's. Everytime Phil and Keely walked off the dance floor with huge smiles on their faces, Debbie heart sank, but she acted like she was having a great time. Her prospects didn't look too good but she was a girl that did not give up.

When the dance was over, the trio headed out to the front of the school where Debbie's mom was waiting in her minivan.

"Well, Debbie, I hope you had fun tonight."

"I did, Phil. Thanks for coming with me."

"No problem. I'll see you in school, Monday."

Debbie guestered toward the minivan. "Aren't you coming with us?"

"I'm going to walk Keely home. Is that ok?"

"Yeah, sure, Phil. I'll see you on Monday."

"Bye Debbie!" Keely called as Debbie climbed in the van.

As her mom pulled away from the curb, Debbie glanced out her window just in time to see Phil put his jacket around Keely's shoulders and Keely slip her hand into his.

Alright, Teslow, Debbie thought, this means war.

Meanwhile, Phil and Keely were about half way to Keely's house when she said, "I think it was really great of you to take Debbie to the dance, Phil."

"Yeah, I think she had a good time. But the next dance, I do get to take you, right?"

"I wouldn't have in any other way." She smiled. "I could have danced with you all night, Phil..."

"Did I tell you how goregous you look tonight?"

"You did but I don't mind hearing it again."

When they reached her house, she unlocked the door and turned to Phil. "Tonight really was great Phil, even if I wasn't your date. See you tommarow?"

"Yeah."

Keely reached for the doorknob and Phil made a split second decison. "Keely, wait." He grabbed her arm and pulled her close. Then he kissed her. After a moment of surprise, she kissed him back. To Phil and Keely, it couldn't have been more perfect.

When they finally pulled out of the kiss, Keely just looked at Phil with a dreamy smile on her face.

He smiled. "Goodnight, Keely."

"'Night, Phil." Keely disapreared into her house and Phil started off toward home, both of them feeling like everything was right with the universe.

On Monday morning, Pim walked into school, mentally planning her newest scheme to con the students of H.G. Wells out of large amounts of money. As she walked down the hall, minding her own bussiness, a hand reached out and grabbed, pulling her aside.

"Berwick! What's the big idea?" Pim shouted, annoyed.

"Pim, I need your help with something"

"Whatever it is, the answer is no."

"Actually, this is something you might enjoy. It involves your brother."

"Phil? All right, I'm listening."

"I want you to help me split up Phil and Keely."

Pim sighed. "I can't do that."

Debbie was shocked. "What? I thought you made it your life's mission to mess with Phil."

"Mess with him yes, annoy him beyond all reason, yes, but this would seriously hurt him."

"I don't get it."

"Look, Berkwick, Phil may be an optomistic, annyoing, do-gooder, but he is my brother and I do care about him. For some reason completely beyond me, Miss Merry Sunshine over there," Pim jerked a thumb in the direction of Keely and Phil down the hall, "makes him happy. Call it a sister's intuition, but I think if he ever lost her, he'd be devestated. I just can't do that to him. Sorry, Berwick, you're on your own."

Pim started off down the hall, but after only a few steps, she turned back around. She grabbed Debbie by the shirt collar and growled at her, "If you EVER tell anyone what I just, so help me, Berwick, I'll make you wish you'd never been born. Understand?" Debbie nodded and Pim let her go and smiled. "Have a fantasitc day." With that, she left.

The next afternoon, Debbie spotted Phil walking out of the school by himself.

"Hi, Phil," she said, catching up with him.

"Oh, hey, there Debbie." Phil replied.

"So where's Keely?"

"Tia decided they needed a girl's afternoon out and dragged her off to the mall."

"Oh."

They walked along in silence until Debbie said, "Phil, did you know Keely almost failed math once?"

Phil found the comment a little out of the blue but replied, "Yeah, it took me three days to teach her how to factor quadratic equations. Something I said must have stuck though, because she managed to pull off a B plus on the final."

"Oh, well, did you know she gets terrible stage fright?"

"Yeah, we're working on that. She's almost completely over it. I'm glad because she has a really a amazing voice."

"Did you know she's a horrible speller?"

"So was Albert Einstein. Spelling has nothing to do with intelligence, It's all about memorization."

"Ok, did you know that-"

Phil cut her off, getting annoyed. "Yeah, I know. Whatever you're going to say, I know. Keely and I have been best friends for almost two years, I know everything there is to know about her."

"OK, but what about-"

"Look, Debbie, I think it's cute that you have a crush on me and all but I'd really appreciate it if you didn't put down my girlfriend."

Phil saw the heartbroken look on Debbie's face and stopped walking. "I'm sorry, Debbie. I didn't mean to sound so harsh." He studied her for a moment. "Let me tell you a story. When I was in the seventh grade, I got my heart broken by this girl I really liked. When I came home heartbroken, my mom told me not to worry, there was someone out there for everyone and I just hadn't found the girl I was meant to be with yet. For the longest time, I didn't understand what she meant, then Keely came along and I found myself thinking, she's the one, she's the person I'm supposed to be with. With any luck, someday the same thing will happen for to you, Debbie. You've got a lot going for you. You're smart, you're pretty and you care about people and want to make the world a better place. As long as you don't let Pim rub off on you too much, you're going to make some lucky guy very happy someday."

"I guess you're right, Phil."

They started walking again and after a few minutes, Debbie said, "Can I ask you something, Phil?"

"Sure."

"Why do you love her so much?"

"Wow, I don't even know where to begin." He thought for awhile. "Keely is just so...amazing. Really, that's the only way I can put it. She's everything I could ever imagine my perfect girl to be and so much more. She has this energy about her that can light up a room and when she smiles at me I feel like the luckiest guy in world. Beyond all that though, she knows me inside and out, knows all my faults and shortcomings, and loves me anyway. No matter what stupid thing I do or say she's always right there by my side. Sometimes I look at her and wonder how I got to be lucky enough to have such a wonderful girl in my life."

Debbie smiled. "Keely is one like girl."

"Oh? How so?"

"She has someone like you to love her." She said simply. Phil just smiled.

The next day, Debbie stopped Keely in the hall. "Hey, Keely."

"Hi, Debbie. How's is going?"

"Great. You?"

"Freaking over an upcoming math test, but aside from that, I'm good."

Debbie smiled. "Keely...Phil...Phil really loves you, I hope you know that."

Keely opened her mouth to reply but Debbie just turned and left. Keely stared after her for a few seconds before going on her own way, a huge smile on her face.

Keely found Phil at his locker, and without even greeting him first, wrapped her arms around him and kissed him.

"Good morning to you too, Keely," he said with a grin when the pulled apart.

"You're amazing, did you know that?"

"I try." He closed his locker.

"I just had the nicest talk with Debbie Berwick."

"Oh, really? What'd she have to say?"

"Nothing I already didn't know." Keely smiled and slipped her hand into Phil's as they started off down the hall.

A/n: This is way too much fun. Seriously, I haven't had this much fun since writing fan fiction since my days writing pointless Fushigi Yuugi randonmess. I love Phil of the Future. Anyway, leave me a review if you feel so inclined, just no flames. I hope y'all enjoyed this because there's more on the way.

Sam Mulder


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